how old is collectable?

[ecmethven]

hi.
just wondering how old a rifle has to be ,to be "collectable"
I aquired a Diana Mod 38 "FireBird" the other day, its a German one and the date stamp is 11 90.
are these collectable? the wood work has a few light marks/scratches, the metal work has very good blueing,nice and dark,
there is just the beginings of slight rust on the barrel where there was a sling attached to a barrel clamp.
any ideas of value?

thanks for any info.
ecm

[Murl]

It dosent have to be old, just rare or different or even ugly.

Bit like women

[Airsporter1st]

It dosent have to be old, just rare or different or even ugly.

Bit like women

Or you just have to like collecting them (not women of course).

[TopDog]

Or you just have to like collecting them (not women of course).

Collectable is just subjective for what is attractive (just like women!). Airguns are cheaper, much cheaper, to collect than women (I would guess!).

ATB
David

[Gareth W-B]

Airguns are cheaper, much cheaper, to collect than women ...

... and far less hassle.

[Rob M]

It dosent have to be old, just rare or different or even ugly.

Or good quality, or well made. I have collected a lot of my airguns because they are unusual designs, like the Record Jumbo (smallest rifled-barrel air pistol), the Record Champion (magazine-fed twelve shot pistol), the Cometa Indian (powerful rack-and-pinion cocking, very unusual). I like things that are a bit quirky but good.

I won more Webleys than any other brand of airgun though, I just like the quality, design and tradition of proper British-made Webleys.

[lodmoor]

Or good quality, or well made. I have collected a lot of my airguns because they are unusual designs, like the Record Jumbo (smallest rifled-barrel air pistol), the Record Champion (magazine-fed twelve shot pistol), the Cometa Indian (powerful rack-and-pinion cocking, very unusual). I like things that are a bit quirky but good.

I won more Webleys than any other brand of airgun though, I just like the quality, design and tradition of proper British-made Webleys.

Seconed though I own mine, didn't win them . (Sorry) Re comments, I too have a Cometa Indian 'cos it is unusual and will not be around long (too expensive to make, complicated and will need loads of spares). Got a Jumbo but don't know the Champion (if it is gas don't want to know otherwise I'd love to be enlightened).

In modern guns I look for the unusual and well made too.

As for Webleys, probably the best ever up to the Premier blued, after that they depreciated in quality but were still pretty good until the Hurricane production stopped.

Don't like the Far East produced plastic Dirty Harry or whoever look-a-likes as being churned out by Weihrauch and the new Webley (or should that be webley as in lower case?) company.

I do agree though they are cheaper to collect than women, well maybe women are easier to acquire but cost a lot more to maintain!

[Lakey]

Lodmoor,

Here are some pictures of my Record Champion. It is a clip fed 12 shot spring piston,repeater designed to fire wadcutter pellets. It was designed by Martin Barthelmes, the son of the 'FB Record' Company founder, Fritz Barthelmes. The pistol was introduced in 1987, and continued in small production until 1997, so examples are already hard to find. It is of side lever design and shares the oval cylinder of the Record Jumbo.

In practice, I find that the repeating mechanism is prone to jamming, and does not alway reliably pick up the next pellet in the stack. It is quite an ugly pistol IMHO, which only increases its attractiveness to me and because of the quirky design, I had to have one in the collection. If you are looking for one in good condition expect to pay up to £200 as that is what they are fetching these days - if you can find one....

Here are the pictures

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL158.../343834925.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL158.../343834813.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL158.../343834683.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL158.../343834526.jpg

I hope that helps


Lakey

[lodmoor]

Thanx Lakey, it is a new one on me I will keep an eye out for it though £200 seems pretty steep.